Mushrooming bullet



' f wm me 2H 9 .,u. A. QICKERMAN M IJSHROOMING BULLET gi gai@ We TN Ess;

INVENTOR @Hm., A mmmmw JoHN A. DICRERMAN, 6E' BRIDGEPORT, coNNEo'rI'cU'n AssrdNoR To REiirIileelJoN'V s COMPANY, Inc., A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

MUsERooMINe iaurianr..y i

Appucauon med February 4, 1922. serial Np. a4,17e.

10 small amount of its kinetic energy is absorbed in the game.` For this reason it'has become customary to use what is known as the soft point bullet, the body of which is jacketed and a small amount of the core material, generally lead, is exposed at the point.

The base or heel ofthe bulletl is generally completely jacketed. over. Such bullets I i mushroom easily upon striking animal tissue and cause' considerable expansion of the point, approximately the forward half of. the bullet, thus taking on` a mushroom shape,

from -which the name of this general class of bullets is derived. f

This type of construction gave most eX- lcellent results with the relatively blunt nosed bullets iai general 'useyprior to about 1905. When. the so called Spitzer bullet was developed," it ywas very quickly adoptedl by nearly all countries for military purposes,

on account of its low trajectory and superior accuracy. .A considerable demand immediately arose for bullets of the Spitzer type adapted for big gamehunting. Full jacket/ed bullets of thev spitzer type were particularly poorly adapted for hunting purposes on account ofv their shape. Soft point bullets lof this type were therefore provided, but it soon becameevident that account of the long sharp nose, it was `*necessary to. expose a relatively long part of the.y nose to 4insure mushrooming, with the result that the soft tip was very liable to injury and was frequently deformed veven in the'original ammunition box, or in the belt or pocketof the hunter, and more particularly in the magazine of repeating rifles (and especially so in vthe case of tubular/ magazine. repeatin riies) and when being inserted into tie chamber of single shot' or repeating rifles. As the slightest deformation of thepoint will seriously affect the accuracy ofthe bullet, it was found that 'such bullets were entirely` unreliable and unsatisfactory. Another difficulty which was soon discoverel was that the soft exposed point, under they entremely high acceleration of', the bullet producedy by the explosion'.

of the propelling charge, had a tendency to y flow back while the bullet waspassing thru' the barrel, resulting in a further deformation and' inaccuracy of the bullet.

The provision of asuitable hu'ntingbullet adapted for use in rifles using the spit/zer type of bullet presented a Very serious problemto the solutionY of which the experts of,^

all )the yammunition companies and many others applied themselves. The result has,y been. that many constructions have been .profy posed7 some of which have," been patented' and have found their way onto the market..

'One'ofthese was the internal reinforcement core ymaterialulOthers l'contemplated securingv a mushrooming effect by forming the point hollow, and others` provided a hard.v wedge-shaped tip yintended to cause expanl sion of the jacket, and anothenclass'ofbul vof the point'as ,by` .a wire embedded inthey g lets' of this'type hada separate drawn jacket.

covering the tip ofthe bullet and attached to the body of the jacket in various Ways, j

'thepurpose of this construction being to reinforce the point sufficiently to prevent distortion and deformation and yet not preventv very' superior mushrooming qualities, while being atthe same time suliicientlyprotected against deformation or distortion. The invention is illustrated in-'several forms in the attached drawings, wherein Fig. 1 illustrates the invention as embodied in a bullet o-f the blunt nosed type. slight modifications. Fig. 4 shows the invention as used in connection with a bullet of the Spitzer or sharp' nosed type. Figs.

Figs. 2 and 3 represent 5 and 6 illu-strate slight modifications thereof. Fig. 'Z showsthe invention applied to a Y bullet of the flat nosed variety. Figs. Sand 9 show slight modifications thereof. Fig. 10

shows the invention embodied in a bullet ofA the hollow point type. Figs. 11 and 12 show lslight modifications thereof. e

Referring to Fig. `1, the numeral 14 des,y

` of the ygeneral r`type illustrated, composed per or cupro-nickel.`

lio

. beyond the jacket.

i nose and the jacket.

olany suitable jacket metal, such as copjacket entends rearwardly Athe fullr length Vot the bullet and may completely enclose 'thebasc or heel oit the bullet. The numeral 15 designates the core, which is'pre-erably formed of lead or an,` alloy containing a large percentage of lead; Ilfdesignates a deformable or collapsible :point which may be formed, as in the embodiment shown, by extending the core material forwardly Covering' said exposed nose 16 and, in the form shown, covering also the entire jacket, is a thin coating Vof a harder material 17, such as copper, nickel, or tin, or other suitable metal or alloy, prefere ably applied thereto by electrodeposition or otherwise deposited thereon as by dipping the bullet in a'bath of molten plating material. external reinforcing armor for the soft nose and forms a binding connection between the It is formed of such a thickness that it will effectively reinforce the soft point against deformation and distortion, while at the same time not. bein'g strong enough to interfere` materially with mushrooming upon impact. llien the reinforcing coating extends to and covers the jacket 14, it is necessary to make the bullet jacket somewhat smaller in diameter than otherwise required, the diierencey being made up by the thickness of the reinforcing coating.

in Fig. 2 the reinforcing coating 17 f eX- tends only as far as 'the jacket, the ex osed soft nose having been made suciently smaller so that when the reinforcing coating is applied its outside surface will come duch with the jacket. ln Fig. 3 the forward portion of the jacket 14 is swedged into the core, as shown in 14', suiiiciently tar to compensate for the thickness of the reinforcing'coating,yso that the outside surface .of the'coating 17" comes flush with and foi-ins a continuation of the outside surtace of the jacket. The construction ot' Fig. l is very similar to that of Fig. 1.and

`the reference characters employed are the saine as those applied to corresponding parts in 1. @n account of the increased length of the soft point 16, the diculties encountered in the use of an unprotected deformable or collapsible point in bullets cfjthis type becomes readily apparent, andv the effectiveness of the reinforcing coating 17 as a reinforcement for, and protection to, the soft point is more obvious. In this case as in the instance of Fig. 1, the bullet is lirst made with a, subnormal diameter and its diameter brought to normal by the additionof the reinforcing coating 17. Figs. 5 and 6 correspond to 2 and 3, respectively, and it is therefore not deemed necessary to enter in- As here shown, --the- The coating therefore provides an.

, Ainesatte only to the external parts of the bullet, but i also to the internal areas of the cavity v18, as is shown at 19. The vcoating 19 forms an axial tubular reinforcement or the tip, reinforcing' the same v against distortion. Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate avhollow point bullet of the type shown in Fig. 10 and in modii'ications corresponding to Figs. 2 and 3, and a detailed description is not deemed necessary. l v

It will be seen therefore that theconstruction above described provides a mushrooming bullet having the excellent mushrooming qualities possessed by the sott point bu let, while at the same/time, being sufficiently protected and reinforced to permit of its being carried on the person and used in repeating riiieswithout suffering such distortion and deformation as to impair accuracy.

It is to be understood also ythat the invention is not limited to the forms shown as cer tain elements illustrated therein are not essential to the utility and effectiveness of the invention.

In the appended claims the term coating is to be understood to mean a relatively thin covering, deformable on impact with a softv target and placed by electro deposition or otherwise on -a formed projectile, and adhering thereto.

The invention claimed is as follower-L 1. In a sharp nosed mushroom bullet tapering to a point at its forward end, the com bination with a jacket, a soft core located therein and projecting Aforwardly beyond the jacket and continuing the lines o the bullet to a relatively sharp point, and a coating of protectin and reinforcing-material deposited on an covering said forwardly projecting point and said jacket.

2. In a sharp nosed mushroom bullet tapering to a point at its forward end, the combination with Aa jacket, a soft core located therein land projecting'forwardly beyond the jacket and continuing the lines of the bullet to a relatively sharp point, and a coating of protecting and reinforcing material deposited on and covering said' forwardly projecting point. f`

32 1n asharp nosed mushroom bullet tapering toafpoint at its forward end, the combination with a jacket enclosing the lll) ' coating of protecting and relnforcing materlal deposlted on and covering said forwardly projecting point and said acket.'

4. lIn a sharp nosed mushroom bullet ta'- pering to a point at its forward end, the combinationiwith a jacket, Va soft core locatedL therein and` projectingV forwardly beyond the jacket and continuing the lines 'of the' j bullet to a relatively sharp point, said, forwardly projecting point land the forward part of said jacket being formed of subnormal dimensions and acoating of protecting and reinforcing material deposited on and covering said forwardly projecting point and said forward'part of said jacket,

to bring them to normal dimensions.

y5. In a mushroom bullet thecombinationy of a bullet body, a forwardly projecting col;- lapsible or deformable point attached to said body anda. coating of protecting yand reinforcing material deposited on said forwardly projecting point.

6. In a mushroom bullet the combination of a bullet body, a forwardly projecting collapsible or deformable point attached to said body and a coating of protecting and reinforcing material electrically deposited on said forwardly projecting point.

7. In a sharp nosed mushroom bullet tapering to a point at its forward end, the combination with a jacket,' a soft core located therein, a forwardly projecting deformable point and a coating of protecting and reini j vto bringsaid point to normal dimensions.

forcing material deposited on said forwardly projecting point. L

In a sharp nosed mushroom bullet ta- Dering to a point at its forward end, the combination with'ja jacke-t, `a soft core, located therein, a forwardlyprojecting deformabley point and a coating of protecting and rein-r,

lafi

forcing material electricallyf. vdeposited on said forwardly projecting point. r

9. In a mushroom bullet the combination of a -bullet body, a forwardly projecting collapsible or deformable point formed of subnormal dimensions, and a coating of protectingy and reinforcing material deposited ,onsaid forwardly projecting point.

10. In a mushroom bullet the combination of av vbullet body, a forwardly projecting collapsible or deformable point formed of subnormal dimensions, and a coating'- of protecting Aand reinforcing material electrically deposited on said forwardly projecting point. 11. In the manufacture of bullets the process of forming the bullet of subnormal -dimensions and then depositing thereon a lcoating of metal to bring said bullet to normal dimensions. j

12. In the manufacture of bullets the process of forming the point of the bullet of subnormal dimensions and then depositing on said point a coating of metal* to bring said. point to normal dimensions.

13. In the manufacture of bullets the vprocess of forming the bullet of subnormal dimensions and then electrically depositing thereon a coating f of metal to bring said..

depositing on' saidvpoint acoating of metal In 'witnessf'whereof I have signed my J DICKERMAN: 

